Garden: Then and Now
Then.
Now. In the corner by the fence (closest view) there is a Pieris bush that flowers, can’t see it in this picture.
Then.
Now. The tall plants in the background are Annabelle Hydrangeas.
Then.
Now.
Closeup. The ball type plants are Autumn Joy Sedum. The smaller balls are from last year, the larger ones are 3 years old. A butterfly bush is behind one of the large Sedums.
More closeup. The yellow yarrow was added last year it is much larger in this photo - about 3x the size! Behind the yarrow is an Ivory Halo Dogwood. To the left of the dogwood is Spirea Little Princess - the picture is from 2 weeks ago, it has little pink flowers all over it now. All the greenery behind, in front and to the side of the Yarrow are daisys - they’re starting to bloom as well.
Another closeup. Dianthus in the forefront and Coneflower foilage beind in several locations. No blooms yet, but soon.
I am loving the garden at this point in the Spring and there is still much to bloom. I will need to thin out and remove some of the hostas as they are huge this year too. I’ll update some more when more is in bloom!
[...] in the last couple of years, and she has turned her backyard from barren and weedy to something lush and beautiful. The only problem is that she doesn’t have a lot of extra money right now, and she only had [...]
(here via nicole) Your plants are gorgeous. Your photos give me hope; I just planted a ton in a very barren (new) yard and they’re spaced out for future growth…so I see a lot of mulch! If I hold on and hold out, it will fill in.
I’m a new gardener and I want to know your secrets!
What was the time frame between the “nows” and “thens” ? What type of fertilizer do you use and how often? Water in the a.m. or p.m. and how often?
Thanks em and Tracy. The before photos are from summer of 2008. The summer of 2007 we had a huge cottonwood and a huge pine tree removed and had the back yard tilled. We had no grass because of the trees, only weeds. After we tilled we seeded, and the grass came in pretty well. It is true what everyone says about how “the first year they sleep, the second year they creep and the third year they LEAP!” I had a hard time believing that as I had never gardened before and could not believe things could change SO much, but it’s true. Much of what’s back there is on its’ third year.
As far as fertilizer, I don’t use any on the plants. I do fertilize the lawn with Scott’s 4 step program - not that you can tell - it is not a full lush non-weedy lawn. From what I hear It’s a little bit of time before a seeded lawn is full completely, in the meantime it fills in with weeds. So it’s pull the weeds and reseed the bare spots until it’s full.
I pretty much only water if I plant something new in the perennial garden - but I do water the vegetable garden daily if it doesn’t rain- early morning or after 7pm or so - so it’s not full sun. If it gets really hot and dry for a period I’d water everything early or late in the day, but it’s not been like that yet here in Illinois.
I am still learning so much but it seems if you truly plant the plants where they are supposed to go - full sun plants in full sun, blah blah blah and give them the proper space to grow, they will do well. I also love Hostas as place holders in the garden. I had a ton of them lined up in a row when I started gardening and move them around a lot. They are hard to kill and as space holders they help keep the weeds at bay. They can be divided every 2-3 years too!
I love to go to garden centers to look at plants and pick the garden designers/experts brains but your local garden club might have yearly plant sales, with plants priced reasonably and the bonus is that you know the plants they are selling thrive in your area.
I’ll post more pics tonight as more flowers are blooming now!